It's almost a joke how much emphasis and work Oda has put into making death a theme for Kaido and Wano in general.
We were literally introduced to Kaido by having the idea that he can't be killed shoved in our faces.
And on top of that, we have these famous comments from Kaido:
Kaido himself believes that death completes a person. He wants a grand death and admires the way that Roger and Whitebeard passed. Not only that, but we've heard him state time and time again that he loves the way of the samurai. The way of the samurai...bushido. Chapter 1036 is titled "Bushido is the way of death." And intriguingly, it's the same chapter that we got this panel:
What's more, chapter 1033 has some pretty alarming dialogue from Kozaburo that honestly comes off as very aggressive when studied by itself:
Kozaburo outright states that swords are devices meant for killing. "They exist to take as many lives as possible." Then he goes on to say that his magnum opus, Enma, has a particularly vicious temperament as a "cursed blade"--but wait, there's no such thing. A "cursed blade" is just a sword that fulfills its purpose particularly well. So let's get this straight. According to Kozaburo, swords are MEANT for killing, and Enma fulfills its purpose extremely well...which means, Enma is adept at taking lives. Interesting.
Furthermore, Zoro declared himself as the "King of Hell." In other words, he called himself Enma. Does this mean that Zoro has taken Enma's purpose/duty for himself? I think it's very possible.
More specifically, Enma's purpose may not be just to kill in general. We know from various points in Wano that swords may hold the "will" of their wielders:
When you combine the above two images, you find a pretty compelling argument for the notion that, when you take a [usually deceased] person's sword, you inherit their will as well. I mean, the editor's note above literally says "inherited will" as Hiyori mentions entrusting Zoro with Enma.
And Oden's will is not difficult to decipher:
Finally, Zoro has a proper reason to hold a grudge against Kaido. Throughout Wano, we've seen Zoro make special bonds with the people of Wano including everyone from Ebisu town, the people of Okobore town, Hiyori, Toko, and of course, Yasuie.
Yet Zoro has found that everyone he made bonds with has suffered, some of them in front of his eyes:
And while it might make sense that the object of Zoro's hatred is Orochi:
We know that Orochi's death means nothing. And there's a better argument that Hiyori deserves to/will dispatch of Orochi:
This is as plain as it gets. Orochi's death would be meaningless. Kaido is the real enemy, the real object of Zoro's anger. Orochi is just a puppet.
As far as Kaido goes, I think these panels speak for themselves:
Not to mention these gems from the supplementary materials:
Now that we're probably entering the climax of Wano, I really can't wait for the Zoro plotlines that we all believe will happen. Look at all these things that were promised:
It's baffling to me that some people think these things will be glossed over. Even though Oda said in the SBS that Ushimaru is not Zoro's father and that he's unsure how much he will reveal, the fact that he already put Ushimaru in the manga and deliberately hid his identity despite drawing him to look almost identical to Zoro...tells me that this will be significant.
So this is how I think things will happen:
We were literally introduced to Kaido by having the idea that he can't be killed shoved in our faces.
And on top of that, we have these famous comments from Kaido:
Kaido himself believes that death completes a person. He wants a grand death and admires the way that Roger and Whitebeard passed. Not only that, but we've heard him state time and time again that he loves the way of the samurai. The way of the samurai...bushido. Chapter 1036 is titled "Bushido is the way of death." And intriguingly, it's the same chapter that we got this panel:
What's more, chapter 1033 has some pretty alarming dialogue from Kozaburo that honestly comes off as very aggressive when studied by itself:
Kozaburo outright states that swords are devices meant for killing. "They exist to take as many lives as possible." Then he goes on to say that his magnum opus, Enma, has a particularly vicious temperament as a "cursed blade"--but wait, there's no such thing. A "cursed blade" is just a sword that fulfills its purpose particularly well. So let's get this straight. According to Kozaburo, swords are MEANT for killing, and Enma fulfills its purpose extremely well...which means, Enma is adept at taking lives. Interesting.
Furthermore, Zoro declared himself as the "King of Hell." In other words, he called himself Enma. Does this mean that Zoro has taken Enma's purpose/duty for himself? I think it's very possible.
More specifically, Enma's purpose may not be just to kill in general. We know from various points in Wano that swords may hold the "will" of their wielders:
When you combine the above two images, you find a pretty compelling argument for the notion that, when you take a [usually deceased] person's sword, you inherit their will as well. I mean, the editor's note above literally says "inherited will" as Hiyori mentions entrusting Zoro with Enma.
And Oden's will is not difficult to decipher:
Finally, Zoro has a proper reason to hold a grudge against Kaido. Throughout Wano, we've seen Zoro make special bonds with the people of Wano including everyone from Ebisu town, the people of Okobore town, Hiyori, Toko, and of course, Yasuie.
Yet Zoro has found that everyone he made bonds with has suffered, some of them in front of his eyes:
And while it might make sense that the object of Zoro's hatred is Orochi:
We know that Orochi's death means nothing. And there's a better argument that Hiyori deserves to/will dispatch of Orochi:
This is as plain as it gets. Orochi's death would be meaningless. Kaido is the real enemy, the real object of Zoro's anger. Orochi is just a puppet.
As far as Kaido goes, I think these panels speak for themselves:
Not to mention these gems from the supplementary materials:
Now that we're probably entering the climax of Wano, I really can't wait for the Zoro plotlines that we all believe will happen. Look at all these things that were promised:
It's baffling to me that some people think these things will be glossed over. Even though Oda said in the SBS that Ushimaru is not Zoro's father and that he's unsure how much he will reveal, the fact that he already put Ushimaru in the manga and deliberately hid his identity despite drawing him to look almost identical to Zoro...tells me that this will be significant.
So this is how I think things will happen:
- Zoro will actually travel to the underworld, or some sort of plane of existence outside the physical realm. It can even take place in his own mind. Either way, he will have a proper confrontation with "Death"
- Some people whine about the grim reaper being some sort of symbolic representation of the fact that Zoro's dying because we've supposedly never seen something like this appear in One Piece. I'm gonna be honest, that sounds like straight denial: people can't actually believe that Oda put a Shinigami in the story. However, we've received hints about this since all the way back in Arlong Park:
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- This was even hinted by Sanji in chapter 1031:
- It makes sense that, for Zoro to become the true "King of Hell," he has to legitimately conquer the idea of death. This will even be a callback to Thriller Bark, where Kuma told Zoro that he would show him "hell." Remember, that was offscreened as well. We don't actually know what happened between the time that Zoro stepped into Luffy's pain bubble and the time that Sanji found him.
- Upon Zoro conquering death (either through battling the grim reaper, making a deal, merging with Enma's soul, whatever Oda comes up with), he'll forge Enma into a black blade and we'll learn all about what black blades are and how they are made. However, Zoro will find himself unable to get back to his body/the real world. This is where Brook comes in handy. Brook already confirmed that there is an underworld/afterlife and that his soul traveled from there back to his body. It's possible that Brook will be able to use his Devil Fruit to "escort" Zoro back.
- Realizing that he has been revived, Zoro will see Onigashima crumbling and sense Luffy's transformation into Nika. Maybe because of his own awakening as the King of Hell, Zoro can tell that Luffy's awakening takes a huge toll on his life force so Zoro will scramble to help Luffy.
- Before Zoro gets there, Luffy uses his finisher on Kaido and knocks him out (thus winning the 1v1) but can't move or do anything afterwards.
- The island keeps crumbling and everyone is trying to evacuate, but no one can get to Luffy. After a good bit of time passes, a gigantic piece of rubble hits Kaido on the head and wakes him up. Kaido, realizing not only that he is not Joyboy but also that he did not get his fair and square 1v1 victory, becomes incredibly bitter.
- Kaido tries to either kill Luffy while he is immobile or set fire to the Flower Capital, at which point Zoro finally shows up and kills him using Ashura (or a modified version) to be seen by the people of Wano. During all of this, some external party (Yamato, Hyogoro, Onimaru, whoever) puts together the pieces of Zoro's lineage and narrates it as Zoro slays Kaido.
- This would fulfill all the plotpoints of Zoro getting a black blade, finding out about his lineage, killing Kaido, and becoming the 2nd Ryuma. It would also allow Zoro to kill Kaido while still ultimately having Luffy beat him in a 1v1
